The 2015 edition of the New Inning Foundation National Youth Cricket League Championships concluded on 12th July in Morrisville, NC, with the finals for U12 and U16 age groups. The U10 and U14 age group events were held during the prior weekend in St. Louis, MO.

Pic (Right): DreamCricket Colts with the U16 trophy

CricMax Tigers won the U12 Championship by defeating Atlanta based CAUSA by 35 runs. In the U16 category, defending champions DreamCricket Colts defeated TCL Green by 3 runs in a tight contest.

In the preliminary rounds, DreamCricket Colts defeated Dallas, Carolina and the TCL Yellow teams whereas TCL Green handed defeat to CricMax Spartans, Minnesota and North Texas as part of their campaign.

Batting first in the final, the Colts lost both their openers to the bowling of Sachin Raghavendran with just 26 on the board. Harish Easwaraiah and Raymond Ramrattan added 49 runs for the third wicket. Harish (40 not out) played the anchor for the Colts. The Colts were aided by 27 wides in building a slightly above-par 113 for the loss of 6 wickets. Abhiram Bolisetty took three of those wickets in a 3 over spell conceding 23 runs.

Pic (Right): Chirag Ballani of the Colts bowls in the final

In the chase, TCL Green began scoring at a fast clip and reached 30 without loss in the fifth over. Nikhil Ankolkar fell to Rohan Arvindh starting a top-order parade. The TCL Green batsmen lost their momentum and lost 3 more wickets before the 10-over mark. However, Sachin Raghavendran (15) and Asav Gandhi (25) stabilized the inning taking their team to 81 before Sachin fell to a quick one from Anirudh Immanuel.

At this stage, the match was still evenly poised and the ask was 6 an over. But when Harish uprooted Asav's stumps in the very next over, the match turned in the direction of the defending champions. The run-a-ball ask got to the batsmen and the inning collapsed just three runs short of target. After a 40 not out with the willow, Harish Easwaraiah impressed with the cherry as well and his tally of 3 for 21 from 3 overs shored up his credentials for Man of the Match.

In the U12 age category, CricMax openers Akhil Thurumella (23 from 33 balls) and Pranav Rao provided their team with a solid start putting up 46 before Pranav fell to Suraj Geddam and Akhil soon followed. Thanks to that foundation, the CricMax inning cruised along despite the loss of additional wickets and the total was exactly 100 at the end of 20 overs.

In the chase, Cricket Academy of USA (Atlanta) sputtered as Dev Salian claimed four of the top six batsmen and Ashwin Manur helped himself to two wickets. Dev's tally of 4 overs, 1 maiden, 5 runs and 4 wickets tells the story of CAUSA's batting as only Heer Patel (32 featuring 5 fours) showed any real intent which accounted for the vast majority of the 37 runs that came off the bat. CAUSA ended their chase on 65 in the 18th over. That outcome ensured that the U12 trophy also traveled up I-95 to New Jersey.

Pic (Right): CricMax Tigers with the U12 trophy

In the award ceremony that followed, NYCL held out special praise for the title sponsor New Inning Foundation and for the equipment sponsor SG Cricket. NYCL also acknowledged the hospitality of the host league for the U12 and U16 leg of the tournament - the Triangle Cricket League based in the Research Triangle Park area - and thanked its youth coordinator, Rajesh Uppalapati for providing young boys and girls an opportunity to play. Prizes were awarded to the following boys in the U12 and U16 categories.